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To explore and measure wearout or the acceptance threshold, beyond which, messages in the form of mobile text advertising generate irritation. To assess the set of factors that positively or negatively, according to literature, influences the attitude towards advertising in short message service (SMS) format and on this basis to propose future research along this line. There is also a focus on irritation antecedents.

Two surveys are used to prevent unbiased answers. The first one is driven to study the wearout effect in the SMS context. An offline survey is carried out using a structured questionnaire. A sample size of 188 using convenience sampling is collected. The second research is driven to study irritation and attitude towards SMS advertising. Data are collected through an online questionnaire which is published through social media platforms, an e-mail mailing list and a quick response (QR) code. An international sample size of 253 applying a convenience and snow ball sampling procedure is collected.

The wearout threshold and irritation antecedents in the mobile advertising context are identified as well as positive and negative factors which influence attitude towards SMS advertising. The replies do not match exactly with the significant factors found in previous research.

There are some, among them, sample size and sampling procedure; only one sector was analysed and, although reliability is acceptable, the number of items in each measurement scale was reduced to only two.

Wearout and the characteristics of an SMS message capable to generate positive attitude are described.

Guidelines to improve public attitudes towards SMS advertising and prevention from wearout are given.

Wearout in the mobile advertising context is explored and some insights regarding irritation antecedents and the role played by frequency and other positive factors in the causal model proposed by the academy are assessed.

Operating in a variety of countries, multinational companies (MNCs) experience a high variety and variability of physiological and contextual dynamics, requiring a more careful knowledge management approach. In this scenario, this paper aims to investigate the entrepreneurial facets and managerial aspects (entrepreneurial orientation/managerial intentionality) of MNCs’ internationalization from a knowledge-based perspective.

A theory-building approach is applied, involving a comparative case study of two MNCs conceived through the separation of a unique family business. Aiming to enrich the research about companies’ internationalization, some crucial elements are individuated to build a theoretical frame explaining the evolutionary paths of so-called born global.

This paper shows that companies’ internationalization development is based on a multiplicity of variables and underlines the need to incorporate different points of view when attempting to explain the dynamics of internationalization processes.

The empirical significance of the two cases does not legitimize theorization. However, this research presents interesting results that could be strengthened by a series of comparative case studies dealing with other MNCs or deeper quantitative investigation.

This research approach could be considered as stimulating by the scientific and managerial community, as the internationalization process is articulated by mixing managerial, entrepreneurial and cognitive aspects.

This study aims to investigate affective commitment (ACS) and leader–member exchange (LMX) as resources mitigating against burnout and counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) in the hospitality sector, and examines the effect of zero-hour contracts on these relationships.

Through conservation of resources theory, this study tests a framework exploring ACS and LMX as resources against burnout and CWBs, using a data set of 260 frontline hospitality employees working in Ireland, considering zero-hour contracts as a moderator.

Findings indicate that burnout is associated with CWB, and ACS and LMX are resources against burnout and CWB. Furthermore, zero-hour contract perceptions moderate the resource effect of ACS and LMX. Yet, zero-hour contract perceptions do not moderate the relationship between burnout and CWB, indicating these employees may be caught in a resource-loss spiral.

This study proposes mechanisms to enhance resources against burnout, with specific strategies to support young employees who are more likely to experience burnout. As findings suggest unique negative impacts of burnout for employees on zero-hour contracts, this paper also provides guidance to support these vulnerable employees.

This study provides unique insights into hospitality employees’ ability to harness resources against burnout and CWB consequences of burnout. The results indicate that perceived precarity does not moderate these relationships, suggesting that burnout affects this cohort differently.

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact that certain human capital variables have over employment growth of small firms in Romania.

The human capital components considered in this paper are education, previous work experience, employment motivations, the presence of entrepreneurial teams, and the presence of family members in the firm. To attain the objective of the paper we carry out a regression analysis using a rich data set of 635 Romanian firms for the year 2006.

Consistent with different employment growth measures, the empirical findings indicate that human capital matters for explaining small firms' employment growth. Previous work experience, the presence of entrepreneurial teams and the proportion of family members working in the business appear as determinant components. In addition, the results indicate that an active involvement of the entrepreneur in managerial tasks increases the intensity with which the entrepreneur makes use of his/her human capital, and this leads to higher employment growth rates.

The main limitation of the paper lies in the absence of a longitudinal analysis that could have given a greater perspective to the study. In order to enrich the analysis, future research should attempt to further explore the impact of human capital components on small firms' growth in other transition economies.

The paper increases the literature dealing with the determinants of small firms' growth in transition economies. The results of the paper also have important implications for academics and support institutions in Romania, as they suggest that, in the Romanian context, small firms may obtain significant benefits from support policies more oriented towards the formation of human capital.

This paper aims to explore the extent to which participation in a previous graduate recruitment programme affects graduates’ organisational affective commitment and their desire to remain.

With the support of a Portuguese organisation that annually operates a trainee programme to attract the best graduates from top universities, a questionnaire with human resource management (HRM) practices, affective commitment and turnover intention scales was used, with data collected from 168 recent recruited graduates representing two groups: graduates with previous participation in the trainee programme and graduates non-trainees.

Despite the company’s expectation that graduate trainees would present higher levels of affective commitment and lower intentions to voluntarily leave than employees recruited by traditional procedures, the t-test results show no significant differences between groups. However, correlations for both groups show a significant positive association between perceived HRM practices and affective commitment and a negative relation with turnover intention. These results suggest that placing a high value on HR practices leads to reinforcement of employment relations and a decrease in the desire to voluntarily leave.

The findings suggest the need for organisations to rethink their recruitment strategies and raise an interesting question with regard to organisational strategy: is it useful or fair to create two groups of graduates within the same organisation, because we may be promoting the development of two micro-cultures?

The study with this specific group is needed because of an increased implementation of trainee programmes all over Europe as a means of attracting graduates. The literature is scarce, focusing only on trainees’ attitudes compared to those recruited through traditional procedures.

The great difficulties which attach to the fixing of legal standards of composition for food products have now to be grappled with by the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture to consider and determine what regulations should be made by the Board, under Section 4 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, with respect to the composition of butter. As we predicted in regard to the labours of the Milk and Cream Standards Committee, so we predict now that the Butter Committee will be unable to do more than to recommend standards and limits, which, while they will make for the protection of the public against the sale of grossly adulterated articles, will certainly not in any way insure the sale of butter of really satisfactory, or even of fair, composition. Standards and limits established by law for the purposes of the administration of criminal Acts of Parliament must of necessity be such as to legalise the sale of products of a most inferior character, to which the term “genuine” may still by law be applied as well as to legalise the sale of adulterated and sophisticated products so prepared as to come within the four corners of the law. It is, of course, an obvious necessity that official standards and limits should be established, and the Board of Agriculture are to be congratulated upon the manner in which they are endeavouring to deal with these extremely knotty problems; but it is important that misconception on the part of the public and the trade with respect to the effect of the regulations to be made should be as far as possible prevented. All that can be hoped for is that the conclusions at which the Committee may find themselves compelled to arrive will not be such as to place too high and too obvious a premium upon the sale of those inferior and scientifically‐adulterated products which are placed in such enormous quantities on the food market.

Attention was called in the March number of this Journal to the promotion of a Bill for the reconstitution of the Local Government Board, and the opinion was expressed that the renovated Department should contain among its staff “experts of the first rank in all the branches of science from which the knowledge essential for efficient administration can be drawn.”